Doug Goodman: New law lets seniors use crossbows

Friday

A new state law has given new life to Harold Kloster’s archery hunting career.

A new state law has given new life to Harold Kloster’s archery hunting career.

The 73-year-old Pecatonica man has hunted since 1960, but in recent years has had trouble pulling back his bow and holding the draw.

“There was one buck that I should have had last year, but I didn’t get him because of my (declining) strength and health,” said Kloster, who suffers from arthritis. “I would still love to hunt with that compound bow if I could. I just can’t do it.”

A new state law will help Kloster and other older hunters when the archery deer season opens Monday.

Now, anyone 62 or older can hunt with a crossbow; previously, only deer hunters with permanent disabilities could use them.

“This way it is already loaded,” Kloster said of his new crossbow. “You just have to take the safety off and pull the trigger like a gun.”

Kloster said the crossbow law will extend his hunting career. “I should be able to hunt another 10 years, if my health doesn’t get any worse than it is.”

Crossbow sales have been brisk since the law was signed Aug. 21 by the governor.

Gander Mountain used to sell three or four crossbows in September, but has sold that many in a weekend, said Steve Leverton, the store’s bow technician.

Prices start at $399 and reach $2,000 for a complete package.

The store’s crossbow customers have been as old as 84.

“A lot of these guys bowhunted for a long time, but they had to give it up because they couldn’t pull the bow any longer,” Leverton said. “They are to the age where it’s just too hard. They have bad shoulders, which is the biggest thing.”

A crossbow uses a crank to pull back the string.

“Now they have something they can get back into the woods with,” Leverton said.

Letter motives lawmaker

A letter from a 72-year-old former hunter persuaded state Sen. Todd Sieben (R-Geneseo) to introduce the bill.

“He basically wrote that he’s hunted since he was 10 years old, but couldn’t meet the disability requirement,” Sieben said. “He said ‘reduced general mobility, diminished hearing and vision, the onset of arthritis and other problems common to aging has currently caused me to stop bowhunting.’ ”

The letter moved Sieben to sponsor the Senate bill.

He had pushed for a less-restrictive crossbow law a few years ago, but ran into opposition from the state’s two largest bowhunter organizations.

“Their feeling was it would just open the door for everyone to be able to use a crossbow,” Sieben said. “They thought it would increase the bowhunting numbers and increase competition for limited access to huntable habitat.”

The groups didn’t oppose this bill because it was limited to senior citizens, Sieben said, noting the change won’t be adding a significant number of new hunters to the ranks.

“These (seniors) are the best people we’ve got out there,” he said. “These are responsible sportsmen. These are the kind of people you want to keep in the field. They are good for the sport.”

An avid bowhunter, Sieben tried a crossbow and was amazed how easy it was to use.

“It didn’t take me 10 minutes to get familiar with how to pull it, set it, cock it and sight it,” he said. “Within 10 minutes I was putting three or four arrows in a 6-inch grouping at 25 yards.”

However, he said the crossbow hunter still needed skill to kill a deer.

“The deer aren’t going to stand still any longer for a crossbow than they would for a recurve or compound bow,” he said.

Ohio hunters have used crossbows without restrictions since the 1980s. Last year the state had 175,000 hunters use crossbows and 150,000 use vertical bows.

“There is still some lingering resentment, as you might expect,” said Mike Tonkovich, an Ohio deer biologist.

“The rifle hunters don’t like the shotgun hunters, and the shotgun hunters don’t necessarily like the muzzleloader hunters for the equipment that they chose. But in large, I think everyone has accepted (crossbows).”

Tonkovich, who killed his first deer with a crossbow last year, agrees with studies that show a crossbow’s effective range is the same as vertical bows.

“Now having hunted with one and having been a compound bowhunter for a lot of years, I’m convinced (crossbows) have no advantage over the compound bows.”

Reporter Doug Goodman can be reached at 815-987-1386.

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